Olive Tree (Italy)

Olive Tree (Italy) A fragmented coalition of centre-left parties in Italy. Created in 1995, it was made up of the Progressives' Alliance (including Democratic Socialists, Greens, and the Italian Socialist Party), the Popular Party, and Dini's Italian Renewal party. In the 1996 elections, it was successful at opposing Berlusconi's Forza Italia, and under Prodi it formed the government for four years. It was unable to fulfil hopes that it would bring its component factions more closely together. Instead, internal political differences were accentuated by the responsibility of government, especially as the government had to enact a number of cuts in public spending to prepare the country for entry into the euro. Prodi was unable to keep the coalition united behind his policies, and in 1998 he was succeeded by Massimo D'Alema, the leader of the Democratic Socialists. Two years later, D'Alema was in turn succeeded by the more popular Guiliano Amato. Ultimately, internal frictions weakened the Olive Tree's popular appeal, and it lost the 2001 elections to the House of Liberties Alliance led by Forza Italia. In 2002 the Olive Tree coalition in the Italian Parliament consisted of the Democrats of the Left, the Daisy (Margherita) Alliance (itself consisting of four parties), the Sunflower Alliance (including the Greens), and the Italian Communists.

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